Just a random picture I had to share... Apollo was napping on the floor with "his" pillow and his elephant. So cute!

Just realized I was missing a few final updates, so I'll fill you in. Clyde went to go stay with his owner's cousin last Friday. He was a great dog to get to know; if I didn't already have a houseful of pets, he would have been an awesome dog to have. It was hard to have him here, though... Apollo didn't want him near us, and would park himself on the floor so he was between Clyde and us. I couldn't let Clyde off the leash in the house, because he thought cats were something to chase. If I'd had time, I could have trained him not to do it, but I knew he wasn't going to be here for long. I really enjoyed having him here, though. He was a gentleman, and just a super sweet dog. Good luck, Clyde and family! The swamp cooler was finally installed last week, and that made me VERY happy. The guys who came out (to replace the guy who couldn't be bothered to show up) were polite, professional, and wonderful to have here. The installed the cooler, fixed a few problems we didn't know we had (oops, broken water line), and were very reasonably priced. My recommendation, if you live in the area: AWR Maintenance are great handymen. We will definitely call them again. Great work, guys. The swamp cooler was really nice this past week. It got a bit warm around here. Of course, it's been cold and icky the past few days, but summer is on the way. We'll definitely get our money's worth out of this. Oh.. thanks, Mom and Dad, for paying for the installation. That was a big help. That's been our excitement here. My son and his wife came out for the weekend, which was very nice. We really had a nice visit, and it was very relaxing and fun. I'll post pictures of our drive up the Monument later; I still need to pull them off the little camera.

Poor Clyde. He's doing ok, but the longer he stays the more stressed he gets. I still can't let him off leash in the house, as he thinks cats are something to be chased. I try to let them spend as much time outside as possible, but today it is raining and if I let them hang out outdoors I will have very muddy dogs. I currently have him leashed to the leg of the couch so he can't chase the kitties, and it's making him sad. I'm not sure what else to do, though. He doesn't crate well, so I'm not going to do that. I just hope they can come and get him soon. He misses his family and it's getting harder for him to be here. He's a sweetheart of a dog, and he's been a real trooper, but I think this is getting to be too much for him. Unfortunately, Apollo and Ares are stressing a bit with him here as well. They're fine with him outside, but when he comes in they have to make sure they're between him and anyone who lives here... people and cats. Apollo is the worst, he gets really upset when Clyde gets too near me or Brian. Not "attack the intruder" upset, but he's bared his teeth and growled a few times. Ares is just... worried. My doggies need to not be stressed so much. Clyde needs to not be sad. I just hope he can go home soon.

I went over this morning and took a few pictures of what's left of Clyde's house: This is all that's left. It spread so fast it was scary. There was a moment of absolute terror when I thought that there were still kids in the house. I had a flash of I HAVE TO HELP OMG but the fire was already coming out of the windows. The sense of relief to know that everyone was out ok was overwhelming. I just started shaking. I was shaking for hours afterwards. I've had nightmares all my life of fires, I don't know why... and stuff like this just brings them back. The families who lived here (7 people total) have lost almost everything. They managed to salvage some clothes and kid supplies out of the back bedrooms, but everything else is a total loss. The Red Cross is putting them up for the next few days, and I think they'll be staying with family after that. I wish I could do more to help. I've donated our old king size bed to them when they get somewhere they can use it, and I'll be watching Clyde for the next few days until she can get him over to her uncle's house. Clyde is doing well, but he just seems very confused and a bit stressed. I don't blame him! We finally brought him into the house last night, but we had to keep him on a leash because he thinks cats need to be chased. Can't have that. I wound up putting him in Ares' crate last night, because I didn't have anywhere else for him to sleep. He cried for a bit, so I brought my pillow down on the floor and lay down by the crate until he calmed down. Ares came and put his head on my pillow, I guess he was showing the new guy what to do. They've all been up since about 5am, so I'm a little tired. I leashed Clyde to the couch for a bit so I could take about an hour nap, that really helped a lot. All the dogs are outside now, and it's a gorgeous day, so I'm going to make them stay out for a while.